Not much prep for Boston Baked Beans, but you need patience while they cook low and slow

Baked beans and franks were once so common for dinner on Saturday night in New England that some communities became known for Bean-Hole suppers, in which a cast-iron pot of beans was baked in a pit, covered with hot coals. The suppers are still popular in Maine, where cornbread might be on the menu. The typical Boston accompaniment was brown bread made with rye flour, cornmeal, and raisins, boiled in a can submerged in water.

Boston Baked Beans require little work on the part of the cook, but you need patience while they cook low and slow. First you soak dried beans overnight (navy beans, pea beans, and a variety of others are fine to use), then simmer them in a large Dutch oven for 45 minutes. Leave them in the simmering pot and remove the excess cooking water with a ladle, but hang onto the liquid in case you need it later. Then add cut-up bacon, molasses, maple syrup, onion, ketchup, brown sugar, dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and a hint of ground cloves. Don’t rush the process. Bake them in a low oven until they’re tender, which takes three to four hours, then uncover the pot, turn up the oven heat, and bake another hour to turn the cooking liquid into a syrupy sauce. A note about getting beans to the tender stage: If you begin with old beans (some you bought years ago and stashed in the back of the cupboard), the beans will take a long time to soften. Be patient. Some take three hours, others might take five. In the end, you’re rewarded with beans that are deliciously sweet, a just-right sweetness, with intense flavors. A dish so cozy you’ll want to start your own beans-and-franks tradition.